It's surprisingly easy for the rear wheels to go out of alignment. The first time, the rear wheel rubbed through and blew out. The second time, a tow truck hooked to my rear wheel to pull me out of the ditch. I found out a bit later that the tire had worn through and blew out. I had checked it earlier for heating, but it remained cool. This is not a reliable method for determining whether your wheel is out of alignment.
It sounds like you’ve learned the hard way that rear wheel alignment isn’t something you can reliably check just by feeling for heat or inspecting visually. Misalignment can cause uneven tire wear and sudden blowouts, like you experienced. Even if the wheel feels cool, it can already be under stress or rubbing in a way that damages the tire. The safest approach is to get a proper alignment check at a shop—especially after incidents like being pulled out of a ditch—so you don’t risk another blowout or damage to the vehicle.
If my rear wheels were out of alignment on a Toyota non-sports car, I'd look real hard for damaged suspension components. Most Toyotas just aren't designed with much adjustability in the rears. And since the OP said his car was pulled out of the ditch by a rear wheel... (let's ignore for a moment the stupidity of pulling a car out by a wheel when the car comes with a towing eyelet that screws right into a hole inside the rear bumper - grab the eyelet, pop the little cover off, thread in the eyelet)
I might relocate the towing thing to the glove box. Perhaps more conveniently accessed than when one is in a ditch.
At 15 k miles I checked the tread depth on all 4 tires, every groove. All 4 were basically the same with slight feathering on the outer edges of the front tires, grooves even. Ill get them rotated at 20 k then keep an eye on them until 40 k. No impacts of any consequence to bend anything, The tow hook is your friend versus a moron using the lower control arms or any other spot to "pull a car out of a ditch" Most dangerous things for me so far was fallen trees that were sticking out into the icy road, but fortunately managed to avoid any impact. I'm not letting any alignment machine near my car unless there is noticeable difference in tread wear. All grooves at 7/32nds versus 8 when they were new. Wifes Rogue made it to 68k on the OE tires and is still on the original front brake pads at 89k miles and 9.5 years. Replacement tires wearing perfectly evenly after 20k post replacement.
